IntroductionIt is
rare to find a memorial to a deceased person dated much before 1600. Those which
survive will usually relate to more wealthy people and will most often be found
inside a church rather than in a churchyard (where the ravages of time are
likely in any event have obliterated such early inscriptions). This is not to
say that the graves of the poor were not marked. Many, after the burial, would
have been marked with a carved or painted wooden board but this would have
perished within a relatively short time leaving the grave unmarked. The
establishment of permanent memorials increased steadily until by the Victorian
period, even many of the poorer members of society were memorialised in some
form. This trend increased into the 20th century but with the increasing
popularity of cremation, there has been something of a reduction in the use of
permanent memorials.

Burial and CremationUntil
the end of the 18th century, the vast majority of people would have been buried
in a churchyard. Each parish church, and most of their chapelries, would have
had its own burial ground. There would also have been many nonconformist burial
grounds. A small number of private burial grounds had also been established such
as Bunhill Fields in London and an increasing number of these began to appear in
the early years of the 19th century (Rosary Road, Norwich, 1819; Rusholme Road,
Manchester, 1820; Liverpool Necropolis, 1825). The urbanisation of the
population during this period placed demands upon parish burial grounds in
cities which they were unable to accommodate and many became squalid and
unsanitary. Legislation in 1851 banned burials in London city churchyards (and
interments in church vaults) and made provision for local authorities to
establish out-of-town municipal burial grounds. The act was extended to the rest
of the country in 1853. It is from this period that many of the municipal
cemeteries date. Graves are generally "permanent" that is to say that once
buried, remains are not subsequently removed to charnel houses (as is the
practice in some continental countries) though they may be removed and re-buried
elsewhere to permit works such as road widening. There is no requirement to
establish a memorial and the decision depends on the wishes and financial means
of the family. In private cemeteries, it is probable that the majority of graves
had a memorial. In municipal cemeteries it is less certain.

The
first "official" cremation was carried out at Woking in 1885 but cremation
achieved only a limited following until World War 2 after which it rapidly
gained popularity until it overtook burial in 1968. Many cremated remains were
walled-up in niches (or sometimes buried) at the crematorium and a memorial
placed on the plaque closing the niche (or on a conventional "headstone"). More
recently it has become the practice to commemorate the deceased by planting a
rose bush with a small (and one suspects transient) marker. Even where a niche
is used, it is now the practice to lease the niche for 10 or 20 years rather
than sell it for permanent occupation. Many people choose to scatter the ashes
at some favourite place of the deceased and to leave no memorial permanent or
otherwise.

Finding the Body - and the RecordsThe
greatest problem with memorials is locating the place of disposal (the term
burial will be used hereafter though the notes apply equally to cremation).
There is no publicly available official record of where people were buried.
Although they issue a death certificate, this does not record the burial place.
Registrars do keep receipts from undertakers recording details of disposal of
the body but these are not retained indefinitely and are not open to the public.
You therefore need to use other sources such as:

Family oral
record or documents (such as undertakers/cemetery receipts)

Memorial cards
(very popular during the Victorian period)

Newspaper
announcements (few before the 19th century) or obituaries

Wills may
specify where the testator is to be buried

Local
knowledge - what burial places were available in the area?

Our
first assumption is often that the body would be buried close to the place where
the person died and this will often be the case. It was not uncommon, however,
for the body to be taken for burial at some place with family connections -
possibly where the person was born or from which the family originally came. It
is possible also that the family owned the rights to burial in a grave in a
private cemetery and chose to bury the person there rather than close to where
they lived, even if this meant a lengthy journey. One must also not overlook
fashion. Some cemeteries held an appeal which drew business from many miles
away. Brooklands (municipal) Cemetery in Sale (Cheshire) contains memorials to
large numbers of people who lived in suburbs of Manchester (Lancashire) and
whose bodies would have been taken past the gates of at least one other
municipal cemetery on their final journey.

If you
cannot identify the burial place with certainty, you will have to check each of
the possible burial places. In cities from the early 1800s, it is increasingly
likely that the burial will be in a private cemetery rather than a churchyard
and from about 1850 in a municipal cemetery. For churchyard burials, the burial
registers will usually be found either at the church or more likely in a local
record office. For municipal cemeteries and crematoria, most of the registers
will be held by the municipal authority who will search for a specific entry.
There may be a charge for this service and usually you will be expected to know
the date of death. The registers may not be at the cemetery to which they
relate. You may have to telephone around to find the ones you want. Some, for
closed cemeteries, may be deposited in record offices. The records of private
cemeteries, many of which are now closed, may be found in local record offices.
Records of private crematoria which are still in operation will be held by the
appropriate company. The Brooklands Cemetery example above points to the need to
avoid treating administrative boundaries (such as counties) as brick walls.

Burial RecordsThere
are two types of written record which you may encounter. Firstly, there is the
burial register. This will generally record burials in the order in which they
take place. In church registers, registers seldom identify the location of the
grave. In municipal registers the register will contain a record of the grave
number which will allow the grave to be located (though you may require
assistance in interpreting the numbering system used in a large municipal
cemetery). There may also be a "grave book" (or "sexton's book"). This is normal
practice for municipal cemeteries but if one ever existed for a churchyard it
has often failed to survive. The grave book records the names (and possibly
addresses) of those buried in the grave and the date of burial. If the plot was
purchased, it will usually record the owner's name. The depth will also be
recorded to assist the sexton when future burials are proposed. The grave book
is valuable since it may contain names of people not recorded on the memorial.

Monuments and InscriptionsThe
existence of a burial does not, of course, mean the existence of a memorial but
if one survives it can provide invaluable genealogical information. Some of the
possibilities include:

Date of death
(as opposed to burial)

Date of birth
(or possibly age at death - be aware "70th year" means aged 69)

Residence -
usually a town or district rather than a specific address

Profession or
military regiment/rank or ship name

Relationship
to others named on the memorial including in-laws

Position in
family (second son, youngest child etc.)

Place of
burial of other family members not interred in the grave

Biographical
information ("for many years sexton of this parish" etc.")

Cause of death
if by accident

The
inscription may also have some eulogistic words about the deceased ("...who bore
his illness with fortitude and faith in God"). While these may be accurate, one
seldom sees an inscription reading "..who complained incessantly about the
slightest inconvenience" and so should be treated with scepticism unless
supported by other sources.

Finding AidsThe
difficulty of locating a memorial can be eased to a great extent by the use of
indexes and transcriptions of monumental inscriptions. There is often
difficulty, however, in determining whether the memorials of any particular
burial ground have been recorded. Library catalogues may assist and local family
history societies will usually have a good idea of what is available. The
Society has recently published "A Guide to Manchester Burial Grounds" which
provides comprehensive details of all the city's old burial grounds and the
location of their records. For
Lancashire, the Lancashire Family History & Heraldry Society's publication
"Lancashire Graveyards & Burial Grounds" lists the location of many indexes and
transcripts. A similar publication for Yorkshire is "Recorded Monumental
Inscriptions" from the North east Group of Family History Societies.

As with
all transcripts, the possibility of error exists and if possible you should view
the original to confirm the accuracy of what has been recorded. You should also
note that any index/transcript is only complete up to the date of its
compilation. Later memorials will not be included unless as a later supplement.
It should also be noted that there is considerable value in older transcripts
(such as those in the 19th century Owen Manuscripts in Manchester Archives)
since the effects of weathering and vandalism may have subsequently obliterated
inscriptions which were legible 50 years or more ago.

For the
location of burials, there is currently no comprehensive index. Many church
burial registers have been transcribed individually and this may reduce the work
involved somewhat. It is difficult, however, if the person was buried many miles
from where they lived or were last known to have lived. This is being addressed
by the compilation of a National Burial Index under a project run by the
Federation of Family History Societies. The third volume of this index was
published on DVD in 2010. Coverage is,
however very variable across the country depending on the level of volunteer
effort available to the individual societies involved. There is considerable
information for Yorkshire but nothing for Leicestershire or Cornwall.

Recording Monumental InscriptionsYou
will at some stage wish to record a family memorial. The following notes may
assist:

Photograph the memorial if possible - take close ups of the inscription(s). A digital camera
may allow you to confirm legibility and save the need to transcribe.

If you transcribe the inscription, take care with accuracy and completeness. You may
find abbreviations such as ILMO (In Loving Memory of), STTMO (Sacred to the
Memory of) and TBWO (The Beloved Wife of) useful but avoid abbreviations which
you might misinterpret later.

A worn inscription may be more legible at a time of day when the light strikes it
obliquely rather than full on.

Do not interfere with the stone beyond the removal of undergrowth. Do not scrape off
lichens.

Beware of unstable headstones. a falling stone could kill or maim. Assess the stability
before getting too close. Do not let children play on or around stones.

If possible, speak to the attendant or minister. He may have local knowledge (i.e. location
of other family graves).

Read "Rayment's Notes on Recording Monumental Inscriptions" (FFHS 4th edition 1992) which
although written for those involved in projects contains much good advice.